The Trail Welcomes Me

Deep breath, beating heart,
Rhythmical sound of my steps;
The trail welcomes me.

Moving

Moving, there’s no fear,
The only sound I can hear?
Life,… so very near…

Dusk in the Nevada Desert

Red sun hanging low,
Wild horses run by me, free,
My mind clear, steps slow.

Wet And Cold

Thunderstorm and hails,
My feet wet, I’m shivering,
It’s still well worth it.

Grand Tetons started to appear through the clouds. I’ve just hiked through hails and rain and a thunderstorm. The temperature dropped by several degrees by the time the storm passed and I couldn’t even register how cold my feet were. My jacked has reached its peak sometime halfway through the storm and didn’t hold almost any water away from my body. My pant transformed into waterfall caves, my shoes into cave rivers. I could feel shivers going all through my body. But it was worth it. The Tetons were covered in fresh snow not too far above where I stood. The air was filled with the most beautiful fragrance of the wet woods. The trail led me through the mountains… I was happy. Simply and beautifully happy.

Morning Song

Woken up from sleep
Listen to the birds singing
In the cedar trees

Walk On

Walk, walk on, walk on,
Walk, walk on, walk on, walk on,
Walk, walk on, walk on…

On the trail, as in life, many times, there’s nothing else we can do but to keep walking, to walk, on, walk on, walk on. I’ve been there – in the place where I could do nothing but to walk on, where standing still, not walking anymore, would do more harm than good. And even though to keep walking can sometimes be the most painful and exhausting thing to do, we have to keep moving, we have to
walk on…

Hoofbeat

Through the starry night
Hoofbeats sound through the valley;
Freedom’s come for me.

It was by the starlight when I heard the hoofbeats sounding through the valley where I stopped for the night. It was the following morning when I actually encountered the wild horses. Or rather, they encountered me. I was sitting in a shade of some bush when I heard the unmistakable rhythm of a horse walking. This one appeared first and soon, probably after confirming that I was no threat to them, three other wild horses joined in and started to graze nearby. It was one of the most magical moments…